Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-09-28

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

You recently received a letter from a friend asking for advice about whether to go to college or to try to get a job. You think he/she should get a job.

Write a letter to this friend. In your letter

• say why he/she would not enjoy going to college
• explain why getting a job is a good idea for him/her
• suggest types of job that would be suitable for him/her

You do NOT need to write any addresses.

Begin your letter as follows:

Dear ................. ,

Student answer (Band 5.5)

Dear John,

I received your letter and i am writing this letter to give you a suggestion that you have to try to get a job instead of go to college. As, i know you have a gap of three years after your father's death. Therefore, it will be difficult for you to restart again.

Moreover, as i aware from your family finacial issues after your father' death. So, job is a great idea for you to provide a financial support to your mother and able to manage expenses of yonger sibling's education and basic needs.

You did your graduation in mechanical engineering then you can try to find a local and small scale companies those who have minimal requirements and it would be easy for you to commute on regularly. After, getting an experience aplly for big comapanies.

i hope you will take my suggestion.

yours lovely,

aman

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response covers all parts of the task by giving a clear perspective on why college might not be enjoyable due to a three-year gap, explaining why a job is beneficial for family financial support, and suggesting a suitable employment sector in mechanical engineering. A consistent, informal tone appropriate for a letter to a friend is maintained throughout. However, the response has a minor negative impact on Task Achievement because the word count is 149 words, which is one word short of the official 150-word minimum requirement. Consequently, the development of ideas is slightly constrained, leading to a band score of 5.5.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The letter exhibits a clear overall arrangement with logical progression from discussing college to the benefits of a job and finally suggesting specific job types. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate distinct ideas, such as "Moreover" and "You did your graduation". However, referencing and cohesion are sometimes faulty or mechanical, as seen in the phrasing "those who have minimal requirements" and punctuation issues like lowercase letters for "i". While the organizational structure is adequate for a band 6.0, cohesive devices are occasionally repetitive or clumsily handled, limiting the score.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully incorporating terms related to employment and education such as "graduation", "mechanical engineering", "small scale companies", and "financial support". However, there are noticeable lexical and spelling errors that detract from precision, such as "finacial" instead of financial, "yonger" instead of younger, and "aplly" instead of apply. Additionally, word choice is sometimes awkward, such as "as i aware from". These inaccuracies place the vocabulary firmly within the Band 5.0 range, where noticeable errors cause occasional difficulty.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, including conditional and relative clauses like "if you want to try..." and "companies those who have minimal requirements". However, grammatical accuracy is weak, featuring frequent errors in punctuation and capitalization (e.g., lowercase "i"), incorrect prepositions and verb forms like "instead of go" instead of going, and awkward phrasing such as "on regularly". These errors occur consistently throughout the text and cause some difficulty for the reader, matching the descriptors for Band 5.0.

See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.

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